I love looking at all the pretty colors and prints in my stash...but when it comes time to select fabric for a quilt...I become clueless. I am not one for pre cuts or kits...love to look and touch fabric and of course buy, buy, buy.

So my questions is??? How do you sort through all of them... At the moment I have a closet stuffed with metal storage cubes...they work well and each cube will hold 2 stacks side by side of my nicely folded stash...but what method of organizing them will do the trick???

Shall I do light, medium, dark??? And brights??? Shall I do small prints, medium prints, large prints???

I just want to sew...not spend hours selecting... What system have you developed that is working well for you???

I organize mine by color. I don't really have the space to go much beyond that. However I do have separate bins for novelty ( mostly animals) and fat quarters. I would love to have the room to organize properly but doubt that's ever happening. -- Edited on 4/12/13 12:26 PM --

I have them stacked by color. Brown, red, yellow/orange, green blue black. I have another bag that is full of just scraps. That isn't organized at all. It's just a shopping bag full of scraps. I don't have much of a stash compared to many people, though I'm sure my husband would beg to differ with me about that.

I keep my fabrics sorted by color and group each in light, medium, dark. I do not sort by print scale but do consider it when selecting fabric. But for selecting colors, I am studying color theory. I have a color wheel poster on the wall of my sewing room and use it to select complementary colors. Unless I am making a scrap quilt then it doesn't really matter. I like to select fabrics with different scale of print and light value to keep the eye moving and the design interesting.

Selecting fabrics is one of my favorite parts because I like to make design choices that may be different if I am following a pattern to make the quilt more unique and reflective of my style. However, lately my design sense has been undergoing an overhaul. I am working with fabrics choices outside my box. It is refreshing.

Thank you all so much...feeling normal again. I have a nice stash selection to choose from...I just get overwhelmed when it comes to deciding my color palette. I need to work on that more...that's even more scary.

I used to mini bolt mine on comic boards when I only had a little bit. but....

Hubby has been on a ebay buying spree for me. First it was fat quarters. Lots of them. I have them all folded and stacked by color on a shelf. But I am running out of room on that shelf and have been told to expect a shipment of 75 more in the next few days.

Then he started buying scrap lots by the pound. The scraps were anywhere from fat quarter size up to 1/2 yard or more. Those were all neatly folded, sorted by color and stored on another shelf. That shelf is full.

Hubby's newest kick is buying quilting fabric yardage lots by the pound. The pieces run anywhere from a yard up to 6 yards. Those are all ruler folded and stacked on a shelf. I haven't yet sorted by color but need to. Alas, the shelf is full and another 50 yards of assorted fabrics arived today. 40 more yards will be arriving early next week. Time to clean off another shelf and make room.

I swear these days I spend as much time folding and sorting fabric as I do quilting. I can't complain tho. Its nice having a hubby that likes to play on ebay and doesn't mind contributing to my hobby.

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